Soccer Fan Blog

Another Arsenal-less Saturday.

So some things never change.

Stoke, and namely Ricardo Fuller, were all over the papers yesterday saying they were going to ‘rough Arsenal up’ to get a result. Now you would think that since he has stated this publicly
that the ref would be on the look-out for it, but history has taught us that this is not the case. In fact, should one of our players dare take exception to this treatment it will no doubt be
him taking the early bath and not the thugs who’s only aim was to maim a fellow professional because they couldn’t handle their technical ability.

Wenger made a point of raising how it was ok to say these things before a match with Arsenal. And how we don’t get penalties. And how no-one cares. Just to hammer home the point, the press
mentioned none of it, so if you haven’t watched his press conference, you won’t even be aware of what he said. Unless your a Daily Mail reader in which case you’ll be thinking Wenger started throwing journalists
around the room such was his fury at the injustice of it all, all delivered with that snide tone that only the Daily Mail gets ‘just so.’ Which you deserve, by the way, for reading the Daily
Mail.

In loan news, wonder keeper in waiting Mr. Chesney (spelt Szczesny) has extended his loan spell at Brentford until the end of January with talks supposedly in place to keep him there until the
end of the season. Hopefully, he’ll be back at Arsenal next year as number two behind Fabianksi. I hear Wenger is preparing to take Almunia in to the woods in the summer and have Pat Rice put
him out of his misery. And it seems that finally, Senderos might have got his move. It’s the
long-touted Everton and I’m sure it’s a relief to all involved. I wish him well, especially as we don’t have to play Everton again this season.

Strange transfer rumour of the day, Spuds to pay £10m to Portsmouth for Kaboul. All I’m going to say is £10m, Harry, and seriously?

So, Stoke, masters of that wonder game called ‘throwball.’ Quite how they made it to the Premier League in football when the only thing they know how to kick is other players and need their
hands to score most of their goals is beyond me. And this is the FA Cup so why I’m talking about the league I’m not entirely sure.

I’ve covered Stoke’s tactics in the above paragraph somewhere, but to recap, it shall be kick-off (that usually confuses them as it involves a slight touch as opposed to a giant hoof) then
kick, kick, kick, kick, foul, kick, dive, long ball, throw in, kick, kick, kick, kick, throw in, fall over. If you’re struggling to work out what that means for Arsenal on the pitch, then
here’s a little visual reminder for you:

And I should also point you to this article from November 2008, entitled “Furious Wenger says ‘cowardly’ Stoke set out
to injure Arsenal players.”

Somewhere in amongst all of the above we will have hopefully found the back of the net, though I wouldn’t expect it to happen in the first 15 minutes as we’ve only scored one goal in the first
15 (again with the league) and it usually takes us half an hour to get going. What the result will be I don’t really know. What I do know is that in years gone by I have wanted us to take the
FA Cup very, very seriously. Not so this year. Let me tell you why. I want the league. If we had only had a quarter of the injuries which we’ve experienced this season I would be expecting us
to mount a challenge in the league, Champions League and FA Cup, but we have to be realistic here. Yes I know it’s a dangerous game putting all your eggs in one competition basket (Champions
League aside),  and with Man U and Liverpool both out of the cup it makes it a lot more straightforward, but do we have the players to stretch to three competitions? Not with things as
they stand. Off course I would love us to win the FA Cup, but will I be devastated if we lose tomorrow? Only if the players who take the field haven’t given 100% for the full 90. If they do
that, I’ll applaud them off whatever the result.

That being said, this team will be quite different to the League team. Carling Cupesque one could almost say. With the boss being no-so-sheepish in mentioning Sol and Silvestre’s names when
talking about players, we can assume they’ll start, cause really, why mention them at all otherwise? I assume Campbell has recovered from his injury, obviously gained by wearing an Arsenal
shirt for 30 minutes. Perhaps that’s it, it’s got something to do with that damn stripe running down our arms where our beautiful white sleeves used to be? Maybe that’s where Man United’s
£716million went – bribing Nike into manufacturing a life-sapping kit for the Arsenal. Reverse Go-Faster-Stripes. Go-Fall-Over-Stripes.

It’s a theory.

So, how are we going to line up? Right back is anyone’s guess, could be Coquelin, Bartley, Gallas (though I doubt it) or Eastmond. Where Eastmond plays will no doubt depend on who Arsene wants
as the holding midfielder. As he was Wenger’s first-choice from all the other midfielders we have at kiddie level to cover Song, it would seem sensible to continue him in that position.

With our injuries, this is how I think we’ll line up:

Fabianski
Bartley/or Coquelin Campbell Silvestre Traore
Eastmond
Denilson JET
Walcott Vela Wilshere

I would like to point out that there are three current internationals, two retired internationals, and (I may be wrong here) six who represent their countries at U21 level. Hardly
inexperienced.

But, a la West Ham I feel Wenger will hold a couple of aces in place on the bench. We don’t have Nasri or Diaby to turn things round, but we might very well see Clichy, Rosicky, Eduardo and
maybe even Arshavin on the bench. He might even put Cesc on it with no intention of playing him, just for the fear level his mere presence brings with him. That would be a great move. And not
because it was mine. Well, maybe just a little.

Why I’m doing a match-preview today and not tomorrow, I’m not quite sure. Actually, I am, I forgot we weren’t playing until Sunday, even thoughI acknowledged that fact at the start of the blog.
That is how my memory works – crappily! Ah well. Feck knows what I’m going to have to say tomorrow now.

Maybe this explains my mindset some – Thinking about our right back, I found myself missing Eboue. Who’d have thought that huh? So on to YouTube I went, and just because I know you secretly
miss him to, and because you have to wait for Arsenal until tomorrow…let’s have some Eboue

 
So that’s that for today. Til tomorrow, and if you’re online, make sure you head to the chat room for the match.

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If your so inclined, there’s some new Arsenal Tshirts available on pre-order, more info on which can
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And you can find loads more Arsenal 6×4 prints here